His campaign said the money was a line of credit rather than a loan — that he'd put it up as a guarantee in order to be able to use donations that had already come in to reserve last-minute television buys; TV ad reservation logs close on Friday for the weekend.

"The campaign took out a line of credit to have maximum flexibility to access funds we continue to raise online and through credit card donations," Allen spokeswoman Katie Wright told The Hill. "This race will come down to the wire, the momentum is on our side and we feel good about our position as head into the final weekend."

Allen and Kaine have been in a tight race for months, though Kaine has led nearly every recent public poll of the race.